BGLO and Other GLO Relations on YOUR Campus?

[suntzu1963]

I tried to do a search, but nothing came up so....

Tell us about the relationship between Black Greek Letter Orgs. and other Greek Letter Orgs. at your college/university. Do/did they get along? Work together on a large greek-wide council in conjunction with their NPHC/IFC/NPC/MGC? Fellowship (hang out, socialize)? Do community service together?

At UVA, orgs. seemed to get along fine when there were efforts to get to know one another (but the orgs. were mostly self-segregated the majority of the time I was there *1996-2000*).

The leadership from all councils meet together from what I know of from time to time and the training that all orgs. must complete to get/keep their good standing at UVA is done amongst all organizations.

There weren't any efforts to do service together that I know of until recently when there was a blood drive competition between all the orgs. from UVA and UMaryland (or so I heard).

[PhoenixAzul]

Sadly, the knowledge of one another is scarce. Most people don't even realize that we have several NPHC organizations on campus (mostly as city-wide chapters). Last year, Alpha Phi Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta and Alpha Kappa Alpha and I believe Zeta Phi Beta all came and stepped at the Greek Week Lip Synch, but didn't participate in the Lip Synch itself. This year, a rep. from AKA came to Panhel meetings, but none from the other organizations. I'd like to see more joint programs done between our locals and the NPHC Chapters. It seems that we both think the other doesn't want anything to do with us, which couldn't be further from the truth.

woops, sorry. I go to Otterbein College in Columbus Ohio. It's a small campus, about 3200 people and about 35 % of them are involved in the local greek organizations. As far as diversity goes...it's been an issue. That's not to say that people on campus are racist, nothing could be further from the truth. Our campus is very good at accepting all different lifestyles and types of people...but the race subject always seems to create rifts in the ADMINISTRATION, not the student body and no one seems to know how to fix it.

[suntzu1963]

Please let us know where college/university you attend/attended.

Why do I ask? Knowing this information will help those of us who are interested in trying to understand why relationships do/don't occur see the factors that might be in place that influence these relationships or lack thereof (population dynamics in terms of diversity, size of college/university, location, greek life tolerance, etc....).

Originally posted by PhoenixAzul
Sadly, the knowledge of one another is scarce. Most people don't even realize that we have several NPHC organizations on campus (mostly as city-wide chapters). Last year, Alpha Phi Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta and Alpha Kappa Alpha and I believe Zeta Phi Beta all came and stepped at the Greek Week Lip Synch, but didn't participate in the Lip Synch itself. This year, a rep. from AKA came to Panhel meetings, but none from the other organizations. I'd like to see more joint programs done between our locals and the NPHC Chapters. It seems that we both think the other doesn't want anything to do with us, which couldn't be further from the truth.

[GoldenKey]

we have some Lambda Chi Alphas at our school now...they are cool but we really havent gotten to know them yet

[Tenacity]

At my university, BGLOs were a novelty to WGLOs, and their value was determined by stepshows and parties. To BGLOs, WGLOs were nothing more than a means for reaching a larger paying audience.

We all got along for the most part when we actually interacted, but we rarely did anything but social events together.

<--- won the Greek Ambassador award

[DSTCHAOS]

At my undergrad, there were only 2 NPHC orgs and a slew of IFC and NPC orgs.

There were always HUGE racial undertones and overtones at my school. I admit that a lot was based on misunderstandings and inappropriate comments (not racial slurs) on everyone's part. But, much of it greeted us when we came to the campus. Some people were called the "n" word as soon as they stepped on campus and that's just ONE example. It was a tough road but my friends and I (especially my chapter but also my friends of all races) were very active in fighting for the rights of multicultural students. The multicultural students who are there NOW (since I graduated in '99) are very complacent and WEAK.

I remember freshman orientation '95 where we were told "we have 7 wonderful sororities...and two historically Black ones." The proper phrasing is "we have 9 wonderful sororities, of which two are historically Black."

My chapter was tiny and the other sororities had a minimum of 40 members. We were criticized for not participating in events or having a representative at meetings at times. DUH...if we only have 4 people on the campus, we won't have the flexibility in our schedules and the ability to pick and choose members to do certain things, as an organization with 50 people has.

They wanted us to do things that were against OUR organization's protocol, as well. We enjoyed having a degree of separation but we DID want to participate in what we could, which wasn't much AT ALL.

My chapter got along with quite a few of the IFC and NPC organizations. We learned a lot from certain people and grew in our tolerance of difference and acknowledging our MANY similarities.

But, there remained people on the campus who would ridicule our traditions and do our unofficial sorority call and the unofficial calls of other NPHC organizations.

[STL Kappa]

Oh goodness...

At Mizzou... PHC, IFC and NPHC are trying to form a tri-council in order to bring unity to all Greeks on are campus. I think it's an awesome idea, and I really hope they're successful. Right now, there doesn't seem to be much interaction between PHC/IFC and NPHC organizations. (I group PHC/IFC together because those groups tend to socialize most with each other. Not only in socials and parties, but in events like Greek Week and Homecoming... Alpha Phi Alpha is the only BLGO that has chosen to participate in Homecoming...)

As for your average student's view on the relations... well that all depends on the student. A member of an NPC sorority wrote an article in our independent student newspaper in 2004 accusing members of an NPHC sorority of tearing down philanthropy banners and vandalizing property in Greektown while wearing their letters, explaining that the organizations should be separate from each other. Personally, I believe that individual to be very closed minded, as her accusations were not at all verified or proven... there doesn't seem to be a doubt in anyone's mind that her claims were completely false.

The only thing she seemed to accomplished was making ALL Greeks angry... many protested and supported NPHC and all of it's organizations. There was an article focusing on one of the protests that can be found here...

http://www.themaneater.com/article.php?id=18502

It's amazing that one person can hurt the reputation of not only the NPHC sorority she was accusing, but her OWN organization and all the NPC sororities... which she is representing. We have had a couple of women at Mizzou recently that have made one bad decision that have made us all look horrible.

We recently had an event for all Greeks where the three governing bodies came together to talk about the idea of a tri-council... they seemed really optimistic that, in the future, relations could be strengthened and all fraternities and sororities would be participating in events like Homecoming and Greek Week.

[Diamond4]

Originally posted by suntzu1963
I tried to do a search, but nothing came up so....

Tell us about the relationship between Black Greek Letter Orgs. and other Greek Letter Orgs. at your college/university. Do/did they get along? Work together on a large greek-wide council in conjunction with their NPHC/IFC/NPC/MGC? Fellowship (hang out, socialize)? Do community service together?

At UVA, orgs. seemed to get along fine when there were efforts to get to know one another (but the orgs. were mostly self-segregated the majority of the time I was there *1996-2000*).

The leadership from all councils meet together from what I know of from time to time and the training that all orgs. must complete to get/keep their good standing at UVA is done amongst all organizations.

There weren't any efforts to do service together that I know of until recently when there was a blood drive competition between all the orgs. from UVA and UMaryland (or so I heard).

I attend The University of South Florida in Tampa, FL...we have all 9 org's in NPHC, 13 I believe in Pan, 7 or so in IFC and 7 in UGC (our multi cultural/latin coucnil). The unity among us was non-existant. UGC and NPHC knew of IFC/PAN but they didnt know of us...some even thought we were "Fake Greeks." Lately, with our new Greek Life coordinator-a Delta and the greatest person Ive met-she has implied certain activities and restructured a new focus for all org's to help each other out, support each other, and do events in a cross-council type way. We had a President's retreat in which we realized many pros and cons and many strengths and weaknesses held by all 4 councils. It's helped a lot and the 4 councils are underway of a new existance. This could be something to look into. We have monthly Presidents roundtables (pres of each org and council), advisor roundtables, and each council has a roundtable as well.

[CarolinaCutie]

Originally posted by GoldenKey
we have some Lambda Chi Alphas at our school now...they are cool but we really havent gotten to know them yet

What school do you go to?

[PhiPsiRuss]

When I went to Florida State, many moons ago, the relations weren't bad, they were just almost non-existent. The NPHC groups were, by choice, somewhat insular. Also, they were really small. Its hard to be visible when your entire chapter is a third the size (or smaller) of most NIC/NPC chapter pledge classes.

[MindKontrol]

Berkeley is such a large campus with such a large IFC/PanHellenic body that there was really little to no interaction. Of course, being Nupes, a lot of the sororities knew who we were. But the frats knew us on an individual basis for the most part. My experience was a little different because I was NPHC president, so I had to interact with the other council presidents quite often.

[CarolinaCutie]

At the University of North Carolina Greensboro, interactions between NPHC and NIC/NPC orgs are sparse but friendly. Although there is no ill will or "bad blood" between the groups, we generally stay very separate. As just a normal sorority member (i.e. not on a governing board or the president), the only real time I would really interact with NPHC members is during Greek Week. It seems that lately, there have been some changes towards Greek unity. One of my sisters formed the Campus Greek Association, meant to unite all the councils, but not that many orgs. show up. My sorority in particular has been making more attempts to participate in NPHC's programs. However, it's still pretty divisive- the organizations do not interact socially or collaborate on much of anything.

SO I guess- it could be worse, there could be lots of animosity and negative feelings. I don't feel that there is any sort of racial tension, but then, I'm white. To me though, we get along just fine within the limited interaction.

At my school, we have 5 NIC fraternities, 5 NPC sororities, 8 NPHC orgs, and 1 MCGLO (Theta Nu Xi). Greek Life is less than 5% of the campus, with over 15,000 students.

[Kevin]

At one point, we were going to put on a party with the Kappas. It fell through though. Other than that, we used to have pretty good relations with the Deltas, back when I was an undergrad, but I understand that the current chapter really doesn't have much to do with the NPHC groups at Central Oklahoma. The NPHC groups do have step shows at some of the events that we are both at, they sponsor an annual fashion show which we sometimes go to.. other than that, nothing.

[cash78mere]

Originally posted by DSTCHAOS
At my undergrad, there were only 2 NPHC orgs and a slew of IFC and NPC orgs.

There were always HUGE racial undertones and overtones at my school. I admit that a lot was based on misunderstandings and inappropriate comments (not racial slurs) on everyone's part. But, much of it greeted us when we came to the campus. Some people were called the "n" word as soon as they stepped on campus and that's just ONE example. It was a tough road but my friends and I (especially my chapter but also my friends of all races) were very active in fighting for the rights of multicultural students. The multicultural students who are there NOW (since I graduated in '99) are very complacent and WEAK.

I remember freshman orientation '95 where we were told "we have 7 wonderful sororities...and two historically Black ones." The proper phrasing is "we have 9 wonderful sororities, of which two are historically Black."

My chapter was tiny and the other sororities had a minimum of 40 members. We were criticized for not participating in events or having a representative at meetings at times. DUH...if we only have 4 people on the campus, we won't have the flexibility in our schedules and the ability to pick and choose members to do certain things, as an organization with 50 people has.

They wanted us to do things that were against OUR organization's protocol, as well. We enjoyed having a degree of separation but we DID want to participate in what we could, which wasn't much AT ALL.

My chapter got along with quite a few of the IFC and NPC organizations. We learned a lot from certain people and grew in our tolerance of difference and acknowledging our MANY similarities.

But, there remained people on the campus who would ridicule our traditions and do our unofficial sorority call and the unofficial calls of other NPHC organizations.

if i recall correctly, did you go to richmond?

[starang21]

the sororites always tried to do mixers with us.

an asian sorority even tried to claim us at one point.